Saturday, April 29, 2017

Network Supervillains Win: Powerless Gets Cancelled

(Apologies to my non-American readers for this rant.)

I’m angry. My favorite television show got cancelled. Powerless told the story of the team at
Wayne Security who worked around the clock and goofed off around the clock,
developing protective gear for innocent bystanders of superhero battles.

Afraid of getting hit by bricks during one of those aforementioned
battles? You need their brickproof umbrellas—which cascades bricks to the side,
meaning they can sell more umbrellas. Or afraid of getting scorched by a ball
of flame? You need their fireproof poncho, and they may or may not get a
superheroine to pose naked in the ad before she dons it. (Poncho does not
protect against rain.)

The series mainly focuses on office humor. The minor
superheroes they encounter are actually off to the side. Emily, played by Vanessa
Hudgens, has frustrating misadventures as she tries to bond with team members,
save a good invention, or break her way into the good ol’ boy club that makes
up the board. Her sunny smile, her awkwardly fading smile, and her wickedly
triumphant smile just about carry the show.

Her incompetent boss, Van Wayne (a cousin of you-know-who),
played by Alan Tudyk, often steals the scene with his vapid stupidity. His
blunders, as well as the egos of the team members, can ruin Emily’s best-laid
plans.

So, what happened? Their premier episode was funny, their
second episode was outstandingly funny, and their third episode was okay. That
may have let their ratings go down. Also, they were put on against Supernatural, which claimed part of
their demographic. (This is like how Buffy
the Vampire Slayer almost didn’t make it at first, because it was put on
against Ally McBeal, which ruled
among young females.) Then NBC preempted two of their episodes to premier some
other comedy that wasn’t funny, which makes the audience forget to tune in
again.

The rest of the show continued to be funny. It was the
highlight of my Thursday evenings. But the morons at NBC cancelled it. If you’re
able to access it through Comcast or Xfinity or whatever, hurry and record the
available episodes of Powerless
before they go away.